Hospital Management Proposal
‘ . .I -:.I..@ 1 _ .-
Information Technology
Management Division
and
B-240642 January 22,199l The Honorable John Glenn Chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs United States Senate Dear Mr. Chairman: In response to your request of December 4,1990, we &e reporting to you the results of our review of automated medical records. The report discusses the potential benefits that automation could make to the quality of patient care and the. factors that impede its use. We are making recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to support automated medical records as part of the Department’ mandate to conduct research on s outcomes of health care services. As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution of it until 30 days from the date of this letter. At that time we will send copies to the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the Director, Office of Management and Budget; appropriate congressional committees; and other interested parties. This work was performed under the direction of Frank Reilly, Director, Human Resources Information Systems, who can be reached at (202) 275-3462 if you or your staff have any questions. Other major contributors are listed in appendix II. Sincerely yours, E j
9
Ralph V. Carlone Assistant Comptroller General
l!iixeeutive
summavy
1 i L /
Fkrpose
While the nation spends more than half a trillion dollars a year on health care, the use of automation in the health care industry lags behind other industries. Many health care organizations are currently planning or impIementing large-scale automated information systems, but no organization has fully automated one of the most critical types of information, patient medical records. The patient medical record provides a chronology of a patient’ medical history, including symptoms, s d’ agnoses, and treatments. At present, most medical organizations keep t h ese records in manual,
Information Technology
Management Division
and
B-240642 January 22,199l The Honorable John Glenn Chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs United States Senate Dear Mr. Chairman: In response to your request of December 4,1990, we &e reporting to you the results of our review of automated medical records. The report discusses the potential benefits that automation could make to the quality of patient care and the. factors that impede its use. We are making recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to support automated medical records as part of the Department’ mandate to conduct research on s outcomes of health care services. As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce the contents of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution of it until 30 days from the date of this letter. At that time we will send copies to the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the Director, Office of Management and Budget; appropriate congressional committees; and other interested parties. This work was performed under the direction of Frank Reilly, Director, Human Resources Information Systems, who can be reached at (202) 275-3462 if you or your staff have any questions. Other major contributors are listed in appendix II. Sincerely yours, E j
9
Ralph V. Carlone Assistant Comptroller General
l!iixeeutive
summavy
1 i L /
Fkrpose
While the nation spends more than half a trillion dollars a year on health care, the use of automation in the health care industry lags behind other industries. Many health care organizations are currently planning or impIementing large-scale automated information systems, but no organization has fully automated one of the most critical types of information, patient medical records. The patient medical record provides a chronology of a patient’ medical history, including symptoms, s d’ agnoses, and treatments. At present, most medical organizations keep t h ese records in manual,